Political Developments and Data in 2018
European Journal of Political Research Political Data Yearbook 0: 1–10, 2019 1 doi: 10.1111/2047-8852.12244 Luxembourg: Political developments and data in 2018 RAPHAËL KIES,1 PATRICK DUMONT2 &DANSCHMIT1 1University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg; 2Australian National University, Australia Introduction The 2018 political year was dominated by the parliamentary elections on 14 October 2018. The general expectation was that the Christian Democrats (CSV), who had been in opposition since 2013, would win the election and return to government. In the end, they lost votes and the incumbent coalition of Liberals (DP), Social Democrats (LSAP) and Greens (Déi Gréng) could maintain its majority, allowing the three parties to continue for a second term. These elections also led to the rise of the Pirate Party. On the legislative front, several bills on the government’s legislative agenda were voted on by Parliament. Election report Parliamentary elections took place on 14 October 2018 at the end of the first term with the CSV in opposition since 1979. After suffering losses at the 2013 election (Dumont & Kies 2014), polls suggested that the CSV would win votes and that no coalition without the party would be possible. Final polls in June 2018 indicated that due to a collapse in socialist and liberal votes, the incumbent coalition would no longer have a majority in Parliament, largely due to a CSV that would win back the seats lost in 2013, and that the preferred coalition option was CSV–Greens, given the expected good results for the smallest of the coalition parties. Another party that was expected to benefit from the election, following the electoral successes of populist parties in neighbouring countries, was the Democratic Reform Party (ADR) with its conservative and sovereigntist programme centred around the defence of national identity and language.
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